sick garter ( limp )

[untoucheclipse]

the thing is she was moving today and i held her and she moved around. then she just suddenly stopped moving. and hasent moved since, i dont no if shes dead tho caus shes lying there and her eyes are still black

[untoucheclipse]

i think i gave her a heart attack. geez im sad now

[HazAnga]

5 degrees Celsius from what i know might of been too cold, usually around 10-12 c is the key temp during brumating.

[guidofatherof5]

i think i gave her a heart attack. geez im sad now

If you're referring to the warm bath, I doubt that had anything to do with this situation.
Don't be too hard on yourself.

[ConcinusMan]

Limp snake that cannot seem to hold it's head or first 1/3 of it's body up? Oh crud. Not good.

The fact is, snakes die during brumation in the wild, or even in captivity. It's not necessarily your fault. Could have just been the time for that snake to go.

[zooplan]

5 degrees Celsius from what i know might of been too cold, usually around 10-12 c is the key temp during brumating.

It´s 5°C (41F) in my fridge and I don´t mind about it.
It´s a save brumation temperature for all northern species and I always try to keep the fridge beneath 10°C ( 50F).
Of course they must not jump from that to keeping conditions(20°C/68F) in a second, and feeding isn´t necessary untill they are warmed up completely.

It´s fate of reptile keepers, that some deseases couldn´t been recognized untill there´s no change of salvation left.

[ConcinusMan]

I suppose it would depend on the species Udo, but I can say that 41 F is bordering on deadly for T.s. concinnus' especially if they are small one's without much body mass. T. ordinoides can handle it, but not my concinnus'. 45 F is really a rock-bottom minimum for them. They brumate at approximately 60 cm below ground, (Which remains a constant 50 degrees F, all year long within their natural range) or if in a shallower location, they are warmed by decomposing matter.

I definitely worry about sustaining anything below 46 F for any length of time with my red spotted garters. I've lost a few small one's going below that. Brain damage. they go into convulsions and die. I've seen T. ordinoides survive below-freezing temperatures many times with no apparent harm.

It doesn't sound to me like this snake belonging to the OP, died from cold. He was probably already ill or otherwise ready to die anyway.

[ssssnakeluvr]

if they aren't feeding and you aren't breeding, brumate for a month. the 3 months is how long i brumate for breeding.

[ConcinusMan]

And I usually go with a hundred days, so that's close to what you're saying. The only time I cut it short is for snakes that are quite thin. 41 degrees seems way lower than necessary, even for northern species. I mean, why chance it when 50 degrees is plenty low enough.

[drache]

And I usually go with a hundred days, so that's close to what you're saying. The only time I cut it short is for snakes that are quite thin. 41 degrees seems way lower than necessary, even for northern species. I mean, why chance it when 50 degrees is plenty low enough.

Richard - I don't think 50ºF is cold enough for parietalis, or radix - mine in any case barely even slow down until it gets down to around 45ºF. Not that I have the guts to go lower than that, but I can see that they wouldn't mind